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Friday, January 30, 2015

Weekend Rebel Science Excursion - 38

Today, let's consider some old and some new revolutionary science concepts and surprises.

Two discoveries I want to talk about come from the realm of telescopes (outer space) and a microscope (inner space).

One discovery involves very old planets, which, as discussed later in the post, seems to possibly challenge the time line of Big Bang cosmology (a.k.a. abiotic evolution).

The other involves microbes that use molecular machines to de-construct rocks and metals, then use the resulting atomic parts to generate energy for the microbes' own use; a phenomenon which has generated an interesting observation (by the professor who discovered them) that those microbes "had to have invented wonderful machines" (see video below).

The third issue is an old, rejected one ("genetic memory") that one doctor is trying to resurrect.

I. Rock Microbes

This may involve some of the first molecular machines used by microbes:

A founding father of geobiology, Nealson's interdisciplinary approach is seen in his work between the geological and microbiological sciences. His geobiology work began in the 1970s with his research on the biochemistry of iron and manganese in freshwater and marine environments. It led to the isolation and characterization of one of the first dissimilatory metal-reducing microbes, Shewanella oneidensis, that has developed into an important model environmental microorganism.

A pioneer of the bioluminescence field, Nealson was the first to describe the phenomenon of quorum sensing in luminescent bacteria that were symbionts in various marine organisms. This work encompassed microbial ecology, physiology, biochemistry, and genetics.

Recently, Nealson and colleagues have researched the function of microbial fuel cells, carbon and nitrogen processing in cyanobacteria using nano-SIMS, the genomics of important metal-biotransforming microorganisms, and the mechanisms of microbial mineral formation and dissolution. They have made exciting discoveries leading to applications, such as removal of toxic metals in water and electricity production. He is a key member of the astrobiology community and trusted NASA advisor. His creative thinking, scientific interests, and dedication to mentoring inspire the scientific community and students alike.

Another discovery bears upon the Big Bang time line, as well as on the time when the first carbon was made in stars, so as to make our carbon-based Earth-life forms possible:

Five rocky alien worlds that are 80 percent as old as the universe itself have been discovered, suggesting that Earth-size planets have been a feature of the Milky Way galaxy almost since its beginning.

The newfound exoplanets circle Kepler-444, an 11.2-billion-year-old star about 25 percent smaller than the sun that lies 117 light-years from Earth. All of the worlds are Venus-size or smaller and are therefore rocky, though scientists know nothing else about their composition.

All five alien planets complete an orbit in less than 10 days, meaning they're almost certainly too hot to support life as we know it. But Kepler-444 hints at the existence of other ancient planetary systems that may be more hospitable, researchers said.

"We now know that Earth-sized planets have formed throughout most of the universe’s 13.8-billion-year history, which could provide scope for the existence of ancient life in the galaxy," lead study author Tiago Campante, of the University of Birmingham in England, said in a statement.

For perspective, Earth and everything else in our own solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago.

On a personal note, I reported on this last year as straight news. I assumed that such an announcement had been vetted and the results peer-reviewed. They hadn’t been at that time. As such, I think it’s up to the scientists making the claim to make that clear, and to be more circumspect in their announcement… just as it’s up to those of us reporting on big news to be skeptical and make sure that the process of peer review has been fully respected. That’s on me, and I blew it.

1) What about the accuracy of their technique ("asteroseismology") for determining the age of each star (i.e. does the technique work the same for each generation of stars, e.g. 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation, since each of those stars is very different from the others) that evolves at the center of a solar system?

10) How does this alleged discovery conform to the current Big Bang theory and time line: (Big Bang -> elements appear -> galaxy / star formation -> carbon formed in stars -> carbon released upon star's demise -> carbon ends up on planets -> carbon-based life evolves on one or more planets)?

Another reason I am sceptical of the estimated age of that star, is that the basis of the assertions of early solar systems has, in the past, been based on questionable applications of current knowledge (e.g. using Moore's Law as a dating mechanism: New Hypothesis Says Life Began Before The Earth).

4 comments:

i had the scariest thought after reading this, though i've seen some of this material before in other of your sourced essays, but all of a sudden it dawned on me, out of the blue (i was folding clothes) - the microbes are running the show! We are conditioned not to think about what makes us do what we do, but we must be a resource to something because we live in an ecology. Granted it's a polluted and depleted one, but that's what's causing the microbes to release the heat from below via methane and will kill us off! They're HARVESTING US - in fact, they're CULLING all aerobic life, maybe to start over again. But the microbes will be around and will carry on - even if radiated. What if they grew aerobic life in order to capture radiation via humans, which would self destruct and leave a world BATHED in radiation? See!

It's supposed to be this way! We're doing what we were designed to do by the very tiny, inanimate (to us) objects that are just doing their thing that occupy every square inch (probably cubic inch would be more accurate) of the planet to some extent, including within and on ourselves, all the biota and even the dirt and rocks. They blow around in the air, they're carried by anything that moves, they float in and on any natural current. This is how it is.

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